6 days ago
Huge honour for WHS head girl
Young Queenstowner Manuella Sanches Pedrosa. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Wakatipu High's head girl's been nationally recognised for being a "local leader and climate change trailblazer".
Manuella Sanches Pedrosa, 17, has made the 2025 YWCA Y25 list, celebrating 25 wahine and gender-diverse change-makers, aged 15 to 25, "doing incredible things for their people, communities and planet".
From 100-plus nominees, she's the second youngest on the list and one of only five South Islanders.
Manuella says she was encouraged to "give it a go" by Girls who Grow co-founder Cath van der Meulen, who last year mentored her and three other Wakatipu High students to come up with innovative solutions to agricultural challenges, especially relating to increased droughts caused by climate change.
The students won the 'Rising Star' award at October's Spirit of the Wakatipu community awards.
A few weeks after applying for the Y25 list, Manuella says "I had completely forgotten about it, so when I received a call from Mary-Lynn Huxford, the organiser at YWCA, I was genuinely surprised".
As part of her honour, she was invited to the launch event and three-day wananga (learning retreat) in Auckland last weekend, which she was able to take her mum to.
"It was inspiring to be surrounded by trailblazers and change-makers who, like me, are pushing through the same challenges and striving to make a difference."
Manuella, who intends studying law next year, says "I want to leave behind a legacy of support, where young people everywhere feel empowered to take bold action and help shape a more sustainable world".
"I hope to create spaces where youth are encouraged to lead initiatives, embrace learning and have the confidence to advocate for the issues they care about, all while spreading love and joy."
She thanks her teachers, school, mentors, Wakatipu Wild women's ice hockey team and friends "for their constant support and for always encouraging me to aim higher".
Wakatipu High principal Oded Nathan says he's "super-pleased" for her.
"We've been commenting internally about how special all of our head students are, but that Manuella certainly seems to have resonated with the community."
A New Zealand women's under-18 ice hockey rep, she's suiting up for the Wild in Dunedin this weekend for the NZ women's league's finals series — see page 19 for more.
